Thursday, February 7, 2013

So I thought I would talk about frequent masturbation today.
No, seriously, I want to talk about frequent masturbation. And dependent
origination. Not for the entirety of this particular post, but for a good part
of it. The masturbation part, that is.

One of my favorite YouTube channels (how's that for a
transition?) is the Vlogbrothers. These guys are totally cool and very gay
friendly. If you haven't checked them out before, you should. They are awesome!
And what really got me thinking about the Buddha's teaching on dependent
origination was a recent video of theirs, which you may watch below.

This video brings up something very interesting, and
that's the question of whether a real experience is fundamentally different
from a virtual experience. That's a very Buddhist question, particularly when
you consider the Buddha's teachings on dependent origination, also known as
dependent co-arising. There are a number of suttas on this topic, but this one linked here I will use for reference.

From a strictly biological perspective, when we
"perceive reality," we are really experiencing the past, because no
matter how fast our neurons work, by the time we are "conscious" of an
event or experience, that event or experience is already over! Adds an entire
new dimension to the concept of living in the present moment, doesn't it?

And what we experience as "reality" is just
sensation turned into electrical stimuli in our brains via various chemical
reactions and the movement of nifty neurotransmitters. We can create
"false" realities by manipulating these chemicals in our brain, which
is what a lot of humanity does when it consumers alcohol or other mind-altering
substances. We tend to label these experiences as not real, but the fact is our
brain responds to these experiences, and ergo our mind, as though they are just
as real as a real experience.

As the Maha-nidana Sutta explains, everything exists
because of what precedes that something. Why do we die? We die because we are
born. Why are we born? We are born because of what the Buddha called
"becoming," which is a process initiated by clinging, and this is
preceded by craving for the thing we cling to, and that's preceded by feeling,
which is preceded by contact (as in sensory contact), and that is preceded by
name-and-form because we have to label everything, and that is preceded by
consciousness, which is, whoops! Consciousness is preceded by name-and-form!

Work that one out sonny!

The Buddha's teaching on dependent origination is
critical to his entire teaching, and the simplest way to explain it is nothing
arises out of nothing, something never becomes nothing. Which, if you think
about it for just a second, is basic physics. Matter and energy are neither
created nor destroyed, but only change form. The Buddha said all you have to do
is interrupt that chain anywhere along the line and you've done it - you've
attained Nirvana and then you will go from being something into being nothing
when you die. Because what is the origin or death? It's birth. And what is the
origin of birth? It's because we are becoming. And why are we becoming? Because
we are clinging, etc.

Which brings us back to our brain and eventually
masturbation of the male variety.

If what we experience is nothing but how our brain
processes various stimuli, which result in various feelings we have about that
experience, is something we really experience truly different from something we
virtually experience?

Consider the prostate gland. While the data isn't
universally conclusive, the preponderance of data suggests that frequent masturbation in men contributes to better overall prostate health and a lower
risk of cancer. Wait, let me back that up. What the studies really are saying
is ejaculating several times a week contributes to better overall prostate
health and a lower risk of prostate cancer than ejaculating less frequently, as
in just a couple times a month. And what causes ejaculation? Well, there's
either sex or masturbation. Yes, you can throw in there nocturnal emissions,
but they hardly count even as sex.

There are a few studies that seem to present conflicting
data, such as this one that suggests that wanking too often in your 20s may increase
your risk for prostate cancer, while wanking in your 50s decreases that risk.
But this article debunks that by pointing out the methodology employed in these
studies is flawed.

So I'm sticking with the frequent masturbation is good
scenario.

Hence, does the prostate gland care if you're having real
sex or just doing the rattlesnake shake? No, it does not! All it cares about is
expelling some happy juice on a semi-regular basis. And for that matter, we can
add the experience of orgasm to this. Is the sensation of orgasm created from
masturbating fundamentally different from the sensation of
orgasm during real sex with a real person? While I am extremely hesitant to
answer that question, the basic premise would suggest no, there really is no fundamental difference.

Regardless of the stimuli, it all becomes part of the
sequence of events the Buddha outlined in his teaching on dependent
origination. Our suffering, our dissatisfaction with the transitory nature of
our experiences, feelings and of our very lives is wrapped up all the same
whether we cling to real or false things.

So no, John, there is no difference between seeing the
London Tower Bridge in London while standing along the Thames and seeing the
London Tower Bridge in your video.

About Me

I'm a content director for a television company, guiding content on Web sites. I'm an avid listener of Frank Zappa and a practicing Buddhist who follows the Theravada vehicle. I'm an insatiable traveler who calls Chicago home.